An inquiry has begun into how confidential medical records relating to disability claims were found on a Galway pavement.
The documents included the medical records of three female social welfare claimants and were found in an envelope marked "urgent" under a bush on a public canal walk. The package was handed in to the Connacht Tribune newspaper offices by a passer by.
The claimants' names and addresses were on the documents, along with their age, occupation and the date and peace of their next medical examination. The documents were posted from the Department of Social Welfare's medical records section in Dublin but did not reach the Galway office.
A Department spokesman said the matter would be quickly investigated and the incident was being taken seriously. If the documents had been posted from Dublin they would have been in a securely sealed envelope and would have been one of 60 to 70 such envelopes mailed daily.
A spokesman for An Post said missing mail incidents were rare and each loss was fully investigated.
